Suggestions for fire ants invading our house

 We have a 6 month old house, and in the last few weeks we've started
having fire ants almost randomly coming out of the walls.  I called an
exterminator who came out and baited around the house and sprayed
inside the house, but I've since had two more trails of ants coming
from under the trim in the living room attacking whatever they could
find.

I've walked the house literally dozens of times trying to find where
they're coming in, but I've yet to find anything.  For this my only
assumption is they have a nest in the house, though the exterminator
said it's uncommon for fire ants to make nests indoors since he said
they normally like to burrow in the dirt.

Well about 30 minutes ago I looked up and saw them coming out of the
edges of one of our AC returns in the living room.  I vacuumed them up
and called the bug guy again and left a message with the answering
service since it's the weekend.  I'm still waiting to to hear back,
but is it common to get fire ants nesting in the attic?  And if so is
the best bet to bait the entire attic or just bomb.  The entire
outside of the house has been sprayed and baited and most of the base
boards have been sprayed as well so I'm guessing they've moved into
the attic since there's no other place to go.

Anyway, with two young kids in the house I need to do whatever we can
go stomp these critters.  I'll let the pros do their thing, but I want
to do whatever I can to educate myself as well on the best actions to
take between their visits.

Thanks again and take care --

Sam Alex

  ?


When I had a house built in South Florida I had a problem with all kinds of
insects and bugs the first 6 months or so. I called in an exterminator and
he sprayed the outside and inside of the house but nothing helped. A
neighbor told me that during the build the house is open and exposed and
many bugs build nests in the attic.  I had the exterminator bomb the attic
and that did the job. I used to do it once a year and never had a problem
again.

 


One way to find such "leaks" would be to have an energy audit with a door
blower. Seal up all of the little leaks it finds and you stop obvious paths for
insects. Plus you save energy and won't need near as much poison.

 On Oct 3, 7:00 pm, "Malcom \"Mal\" Reynolds" <atlas-
bug...@invalid.invalid> wrote:

One thing we didn't anticipate with the new house is it was built
using Hardie Board cement siding, and though unlike brick it seems
ants and small insects can squeeze in between the planks and into the
walls.  Since moving in I've made it routine to spray around the
foundation each time I mow and weed-eat which seems to keep them at
bay, but about 4-6 weeks ago I left a 2x4 leaning against the house
and fire ants built a nest at the base and were crawling up the board
and into the house in between the planks.  I really hope they didn't
make a nest inside anyplace, but who knows.

Yesterday evening I talked to the exterminator and he assumed by us
spraying almost every baseboard in the house the ants moved up and
found moisture around the A/C vent and migrated up there.  He's coming
out this evening to hopefully walk through the attic and either bait
or spray up there.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that since the
outside of the house is sprayed and baited, the baseboards are
sprayed, and then the attic will be sprayed and/or baited this'll get
rid of them.  I'm just at my wits end here, and with winter coming
(hit 45F this morning) I really don't want them to migrate any further
into the house or into the inside walls.

Sam Alex

 

What, no underlayment or vapor barrier required?